diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 474bdc25..965fadad 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -12,5 +12,6 @@ backend/.env
 
 # JavaScript stuff
 node_modules
+frontend/dist
 
 .editorconfig
diff --git a/CONTRIBUTING.md b/CONTRIBUTING.md
index d9311fd8..3b19d612 100644
--- a/CONTRIBUTING.md
+++ b/CONTRIBUTING.md
@@ -184,7 +184,41 @@ And the frontend should be available at [localhost:3000](localhost:3000).
 
 ### Docker Instructions
 
-Edit the `docker-compose.yml` file and replace the [`image: bbilly1/tubearchivist` line](https://github.com/tubearchivist/tubearchivist/blob/4af12aee15620e330adf3624c984c3acf6d0ac8b/docker-compose.yml#L7) with `build: .`. Also make any other changes to the environment variables and so on necessary to run the application, just like you're launching the application as normal.
+There are two docker-based development workflows:
+
+#### Dev stack (hot reload, recommended)
+
+Use the local dev stack in `dev/docker/docker-compose.dev.yml`. This runs:
+- Elasticsearch + Redis
+- Django dev server (`runserver`) with source mounted from your host
+- Celery worker
+- Frontend dev server (Vite)
+
+From the repo root:
+
+```bash
+docker compose -f dev/docker/docker-compose.dev.yml up -d --build
+```
+
+Then:
+- Frontend: [localhost:3000](localhost:3000)
+- Backend health: [localhost:8000/api/health/](localhost:8000/api/health/)
+
+Stop everything with:
+
+```bash
+docker compose -f dev/docker/docker-compose.dev.yml down
+```
+
+This compose file uses persistent docker volumes for Elasticsearch, Redis and frontend `node_modules`. If you want a clean slate, remove the volumes:
+
+```bash
+docker compose -f dev/docker/docker-compose.dev.yml down -v
+```
+
+#### Production-like rebuild (full image)
+
+If you want to test closer to the production container, edit the `docker-compose.yml` file and replace the `image: bbilly1/tubearchivist` line with `build: .`. Also make any other changes to the environment variables and so on necessary to run the application, just like you're launching the application as normal.
 
 Run `docker compose up --build`. This will bring up the application. Kill it with `ctrl-c` or by running `docker compose down` from a new terminal window in the same directory.
 
diff --git a/backend/.env.example b/backend/.env.example
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..6271d4dc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/backend/.env.example
@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+# Local development example (place a copy as backend/.env)
+#
+# Note:
+# - This repo's .gitignore ignores backend/.env, backend/static, backend/staticfiles.
+# - Frontend dev server (Vite) expects backend on http://localhost:8000 in DEV mode.
+
+TA_HOST="http://localhost:8000"
+TA_USERNAME=tubearchivist
+TA_PASSWORD=verysecret
+
+TA_MEDIA_DIR="static/volume/media"
+TA_CACHE_DIR="static"
+TA_APP_DIR="."
+
+REDIS_CON=redis://localhost:6379
+ES_URL="http://localhost:9200"
+ELASTIC_PASSWORD=verysecret
+
+TZ=America/New_York
+DJANGO_DEBUG=True
+
diff --git a/dev/docker/Dockerfile.dev b/dev/docker/Dockerfile.dev
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..17bbbe97
--- /dev/null
+++ b/dev/docker/Dockerfile.dev
@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+FROM denoland/deno:bin AS deno-bin
+
+FROM python:3.11.13-slim-bookworm
+
+ENV PYTHONUNBUFFERED=1 \
+    PYTHONDONTWRITEBYTECODE=1
+
+COPY --from=deno-bin /deno /usr/local/bin/deno
+
+RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends \
+    build-essential gcc libldap2-dev libsasl2-dev libssl-dev \
+    ffmpeg atomicparsley curl \
+  && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
+
+WORKDIR /workspace
+
+COPY backend/requirements.txt backend/requirements.txt
+COPY requirements-dev.txt requirements-dev.txt
+
+RUN pip install --no-cache-dir -r requirements-dev.txt
+
diff --git a/dev/docker/docker-compose.dev.yml b/dev/docker/docker-compose.dev.yml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..969d99c8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/dev/docker/docker-compose.dev.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,121 @@
+name: tubearchivist-dev
+
+services:
+  frontend-dev:
+    image: node:lts-alpine
+    container_name: tubearchivist-frontend-dev
+    restart: unless-stopped
+    working_dir: /workspace/frontend
+    volumes:
+      - ../../:/workspace
+      - frontend-node-modules:/workspace/frontend/node_modules
+    environment:
+      - CHOKIDAR_USEPOLLING=true
+    ports:
+      - "3000:3000"
+    depends_on:
+      - backend-dev
+    command: >
+      sh -lc
+      "if [ ! -x node_modules/.bin/vite ]; then npm ci; fi; npm run dev -- --host 0.0.0.0 --port 3000"
+
+  backend-dev:
+    build:
+      context: ../../
+      dockerfile: dev/docker/Dockerfile.dev
+    container_name: tubearchivist-backend-dev
+    restart: unless-stopped
+    working_dir: /workspace/backend
+    volumes:
+      - ../../:/workspace
+    environment:
+      - TA_HOST=http://localhost:8000 http://localhost:3000
+      - TA_USERNAME=tubearchivist
+      - TA_PASSWORD=verysecret
+      - TA_MEDIA_DIR=static/volume/media
+      - TA_CACHE_DIR=static
+      - TA_APP_DIR=.
+      - REDIS_CON=redis://archivist-redis:6379
+      - ES_URL=http://archivist-es:9200
+      - ELASTIC_PASSWORD=verysecret
+      - TZ=America/New_York
+      - DJANGO_DEBUG=True
+    ports:
+      - "8000:8000"
+    depends_on:
+      - archivist-es
+      - archivist-redis
+    command: >
+      bash -lc
+      "mkdir -p static static/img static/volume/media &&
+       cp -an /workspace/frontend/public/img/. static/img/ || true &&
+       python manage.py ta_stop_on_error &&
+       python manage.py migrate &&
+       python manage.py ta_envcheck &&
+       python manage.py ta_connection &&
+       python manage.py ta_startup &&
+       python manage.py runserver 0.0.0.0:8000"
+
+  celery-dev:
+    build:
+      context: ../../
+      dockerfile: dev/docker/Dockerfile.dev
+    container_name: tubearchivist-celery-dev
+    restart: unless-stopped
+    working_dir: /workspace/backend
+    volumes:
+      - ../../:/workspace
+    environment:
+      - TA_HOST=http://localhost:8000 http://localhost:3000
+      - TA_USERNAME=tubearchivist
+      - TA_PASSWORD=verysecret
+      - TA_MEDIA_DIR=static/volume/media
+      - TA_CACHE_DIR=static
+      - TA_APP_DIR=.
+      - REDIS_CON=redis://archivist-redis:6379
+      - ES_URL=http://archivist-es:9200
+      - ELASTIC_PASSWORD=verysecret
+      - TZ=America/New_York
+      - DJANGO_DEBUG=True
+    depends_on:
+      - backend-dev
+    command: >
+      bash -lc
+      "mkdir -p static static/img static/volume/media &&
+       cp -an /workspace/frontend/public/img/. static/img/ || true &&
+       celery -A task.celery worker --loglevel=DEBUG --concurrency 2 --max-tasks-per-child 5 --max-memory-per-child 150000"
+
+  archivist-redis:
+    image: redis
+    container_name: archivist-redis-dev
+    restart: unless-stopped
+    ports:
+      - "6379:6379"
+    volumes:
+      - redis-dev:/data
+
+  archivist-es:
+    # This is the same ES image as the default docker-compose.yml uses.
+    # If your Docker host errors on ulimits/rlimits, omit ulimits (see README.md).
+    image: bbilly1/tubearchivist-es
+    container_name: archivist-es-dev
+    restart: unless-stopped
+    environment:
+      - "ELASTIC_PASSWORD=verysecret"
+      - "ES_JAVA_OPTS=-Xms1g -Xmx1g"
+      - "xpack.security.enabled=true"
+      - "discovery.type=single-node"
+      - "path.repo=/usr/share/elasticsearch/data/snapshot"
+    ulimits:
+      memlock:
+        soft: -1
+        hard: -1
+    ports:
+      - "9200:9200"
+    volumes:
+      - es-dev:/usr/share/elasticsearch/data
+
+volumes:
+  frontend-node-modules: {}
+  redis-dev: {}
+  es-dev: {}